It had a familiar look for Washington Nationals fans. After Yasmani Grandal took Max Scherzer deep on the second at-bat of the game for a two-run shot, everything Nats fans thought about their 2019 team washed away.
From the carefree summer spent dancing to home runs and “Baby Shark,” they were back to: it’s the playoffs, and this is when we lose.
A Matt Thames solo shot in the top of the second made it 3-0, and added to the existential dread.
Trea Turner got Washington on the board with a third-inning solo homer, but that’s all you’d see for what seemed like forever.
Washington manager Davey Martinez had decided late last week to go with Scherzer, his titular ace, in favor of Stephen Strasburg, who won 18 games this year, and would have been on his regular rest, and it blew up in his face.
Scherzer had gone 2-2 with a 4.74 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in his final seven starts coming in, touched up for 20 earned runs in 38 innings of work.
But, he’s Max, the $30 million man, and he’s the guy you’re supposed to go with in a one-game scenario.
Credit to Scherzer, in that he soldiered through five innings, and didn’t allow anything else, handing the ball to Strasburg, who then gave the Nats three scoreless, uneventful innings.
But then, hey, Brewers manager Craig Counsell had things where he wanted them. In his best-case scenario, starter Brandon Woodruff would give him four innings, and that’s what he did Tuesday night, going four and allowing just the Turner homer.
Brent Suter, who had allowed a single earned run in 18 and a third innings out of the bullpen after a late-season callup, pitched out of two-out trouble in the fifth, and then Drew Pomeranz put up back-to-back 1-2-3 innings.
Counsell, coming in, would tell you that he would have hoped to get four from Woodruff, three from some combination including Suter and Pomeranz and maybe another guy or two, if necessary, and then two from his closer, Josh Hader, to close things out.
The best-case scenario presented itself, as Hader took the ball with a 3-1 lead in the eighth, six outs from the NLDS.
He struck out Victor Robles on a 3-2 pitch, but seemed a bit wild. Counsell would say later that Hader was not able to corral his slider, which set him back a bit.
He hit pinch-hitter Michael A. Taylor on a 3-2 pitch, then struck out Turner for out #2.
Ryan Zimmerman, who had been in the on-deck circle twice earlier as a possible pinch-hitter before being called back, finally heard his name called, for what was maybe the final at-bat of his career.
Zimm fought off a 97-mph fastball into short-center, his bat dying a hero, for a single, sending Taylor to third.
Anthony Rendon, bubkus for the night, walked on a borderline 3-2 pitch, bringing up Juan Soto with the bases loaded, two down.
At this stage, you have to be thinking, Hader gets Soto out, this game is over, because the Nats have blown through the heart of their lineup.
Soto rips a 1-1 pitch to right field for a base hit, and you know immediately that it’s going to tie the game.
Martinez had replaced Zimm with Andrew Stevenson, so he’s the runner at second.
Right fielder Trent Grisham somehow thinks he has a chance to come up with the ball and make a play at the plate on Stevenson.
Looking up as the ball approaches, the ball skids under his glove, and Nats Park erupts, as Stevenson comes across with the tying run, and Rendon scores from first with the go-ahead run.
Soto, caught in the moment, was caught between second and third and tagged out for the third out, sending us to the ninth.
Zimm pinch-hit for Strasburg, who was replaced for the ninth by closer Daniel Hudson.
Hudson gave up a one-out single to Lorenzo Cain, but quickly got through Orlando Arcia and Ben Gamel to close things out.
How improbable was this one? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, MLB teams in postseason play down two runs entering the eighth inning had a winning percentage of .050 coming into the night.
That’s one win every 20 games for those teams.
Meaning: Nats fans, in their state of dread, basically from the first couple of minutes of the game, for the rest of the night, weren’t wrong.
Your team loses that game 19 times out of 20.
Tonight was the one night.
But you kind of expected that, out of a group that won 19 of its first 50 games, and finished with 93 curly Ws.
Make that 94, and now another shot at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.
Hey, Nats fans, you’ve been playing with house money since May 24.
Stay in the fight.
Column by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
